In this sequel to the investigative series on the dangers of excessive consumption of herbal gin products, The Nation reveals results of laboratory tests showing presence of poisonous metals in the blood of selected herbal gin lovers By Olatunji OLOLADE, Assistant Editor and Kunle AKINRINADE

The truth dawned on Sola Awoyale like twilight of eternal damnation but he bared his teeth in a scornful smile. It was his measured, careless response to frightening news. Striking a casual pose, he yelled: “Kosi were! Baba no go die unless to ba darugbo…Laye laye! Laye laye!” (roughly translated thus: No worries! I will never die until I grow old…never!).

The 28-year old hollered defiantly, like a badly scarred soldier feigning defiant pose in the face of death. But Awoyale is no soldier; rather he is a roving electrician and breadwinner of a family of six – comprising his wife, daughter, sister and aged parents. And if he does not curtail his addiction to herbal gin very soon, he will have serious health issues to contend with.

Laboratory test and analysis conducted on his blood plasma samples revealed the presence of the heavy metal, lead (pb), at toxic level. Lead contained in his blood towers at 56ug/dL (56 microgram/deciliter), which is precisely 46 micrograms higher than the acceptable lead limit of 10ug/dL.

The study which was conducted in furtherance of The Nation investigation of the dangers of excessive consumption of local herbal alcoholic beverages was conducted at Pathcare Nigeria’s medical laboratory at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), following a three-month observation of the test subjects including Awoyale and four other consumers of herbal gin products. Blood and urine samples of the five subjects were collected and analysed simultaneously at the medical centre’s Nigeria and South African laboratories over one month.

In the course of the research, conscious efforts were made to isolate the research subjects from other potential sources of heavy metals including cigarette, leaded petrol, mining and uptake of plants from contaminated soil.

Worrisome test results

While Awoyale’s test results showed that his blood lead level was dangerous at 56ug/dL (56 microgram/deciliter), the other test subjects, who pleaded anonymity, also recorded worrisome results from the test. For instance two of the test subjects had cadmium concentration in their blood at high levels beyond World Health Organisation (W.H.O)’s permissible limit while the heavy metal abounds in the fourth subject’s blood towered at borderline level. The fifth subject however, suffers a deficiency of iron in his blood, according to interpretations given by the medical centre’s resident pathologist Dr. Segun Isioye.

Awoyale, like the other test subjects, presented a forlorn sight at press time; he perspired –particularly when agitated – like a sickly child caught in a wooly blanket. His freckled face tapered off into a weary smirk every time he smiled and his blackened lips twisted into a pout at news of his test result; behind that smirk resonates a silent wail for help perhaps?

Death by installment

The case of Awoyale is particularly worrisome because lead poisoning can have rapid, acute effects or chronic, long-term effects in an average human, according to medical experts. Acute and sub-acute effects are typically caused by relatively large doses of lead over a short period— often days to months. These effects can be dramatic and include sudden death, severe abdominal cramps, anemia, ataxia, strange headaches, and behavioral changes, such as irritability and appetite loss.

A high level of lead in the blood is dangerous to health argued Dr.Chukwuemeka Isanbor, a Physical and Organic Chemistry don in the Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science of the University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos. According to him, a blood lead level of 70-100ug/dL can cause death. “Acute exposures often manifest as central nervous system (CNS) and gastrointestinal symptoms. Central nervous system symptoms include encephalopathy, convulsion, and stupor. Colic, a gastrointestinal symptom, is a consistent symptom of lead poisoning characterised by abdominal pain, cramps, and nausea.

“Adults have exhibited lead-induced colic at BLL as low as 40 µg/dL. Chronic exposure differs from acute exposure in that chronic symptoms manifest as general malaise, anorexia, constipation, wrist drop, hematuria, and anemia. Although not specific to lead poisoning, basophilic stippling may be seen in erythrocytes due to changes in ribosomes. Additionally, lead targets the proximal tubules of the kidneys and is capable of inducing nephrotoxicity in the form of proximal tubular nephropathy, glomerular sclerosis, and interstitial fibrosis. A decreased glomerular filtration rate and the direct inhibition of the biosynthesis of erythropoietin (EPO) production by lead may contribute to “lead-induced anemia.” Long term accumulation of lead could lead to illness and lower cognitive functions,” he explained.

In the face of arguments that lead ingested at lower levels poses no serious consequences on human health, recent research findings reveal that chronic effects are most often the result of smaller amounts of lead being taken in over longer times – months to years. These effects can be quite subtle and nonspecific, but include all body systems. A brief list of effects documented in people includes such effects as lowered sex drive, decreased fertility (in males and females), miscarriages and premature births, learning problems, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and increased aggression and kidney problems.

The body handles lead in much the same way as calcium. Calcium is a crucial element for living things, being used in a wide variety of metabolic activities, signaling pathways and structural compounds. Most lead is absorbed through the digestive and respiratory systems. Under some circumstances, primarily occupational exposures, certain forms of lead can also be absorbed through the skin. The key is that however it enters the body, the most important step is the absorption of lead into the bloodstream. Nearly all lead vapors getting into the lungs cross into the blood quickly and easily.

Lead entering the digestive system is acted upon by stomach acids and made into soluble salts that can be absorbed by the intestine. In adult male people about 10 to 15 per cent of ingested lead is usually absorbed, the rest leaves the body in feces. But in young children, up to 50 per cent of ingested lead is absorbed. Lead can upset this ordered contraction leading to a great deal of stomach and abdominal pain, long referred to as “lead colic” in people. In the blood stream, lead interferes with the functions of hemoglobin, limiting the amount of oxygen that is carried to organs. Lead also interrupts the formation of new red blood cells in the bone marrow, leading to anemia. Effects in the skeletal and reproductive systems can cause problems such as stunted growth and infertility (in both genders). In situations where the body needs to use bone calcium stores, like growth, fracture healing, dietary imbalances, pregnancy and lactation (in mammals), and or bone loss due to aging or osteoporosis, lead is released from bones and can cause chronic, low level poisoning.

Like lead, cadmium is also very dangerous to health. Once absorbed, cadmium is efficiently retained in the human body, in which it accumulates throughout life. It is primarily toxic to the kidney, especially to the proximal tubular cells, the main site of accumulation. Cadmium can also cause bone demineralization, either through direct bone damage or indirectly as a result of renal dysfunction. Excessive industrial exposure to airborne cadmium may impair lung function and increase the risk of lung cancer, according to Bosun Akintunde, a United Kingdom (UK) based Chemical Pathologist.

Cadmium is hazardous both by inhalation and ingestion and can cause acute and chronic intoxications. When ingested as part of alcoholic beverage, it ultimately accumulates in the body of the drinker; by far, the most salient toxicological property of cadmium is its exceptionally long half-life in the human body. Once absorbed, it irreversibly accumulates in the human body, in particularly in kidneys and other vital organs such the lungs or the liver. In addition to its extraordinary cumulative properties, cadmium is also a highly toxic metal that can disrupt a number of biological systems, usually at doses that are much lower than most toxic metals, noted Akintunde.

Changing patterns in alcoholic beverage consumption

At the backdrop of this phenomena, Emeka Dumbili PhD, of the Department of Sociology and Communications, Brunel University, London, United Kingdom (UK), argued that in more recent years, there have been some striking changes in the patterns of consumption, brought about by the development of the socio-political and economic structures of the country.

“Consumption is no longer solely regulated by custom and tradition of the people and it is no longer reserved for social gathering or entertainment of a guest alone. The patterns of use, the users and reason(s) for consumption are changing rapidly, especially among young drinkers. A sharp contrast from what hitherto existed is the alcohol contest among youths in bars, restaurants, drinking joints, hotels and nightclubs that are strategically located near various schools in Nigeria. This competition is always among boys and the winner is judged based on two standards – the ability to drink large a quantity without showing signs of intoxication and the ability to drink faster than the opponent.”

Dumbili’s argument is substantiated by prevalent contests and rampant drinking binge indulged in by herbal gin lovers across the nation’s local pubs.

The new trend of alcohol consumption no doubt contributes to Nigeria’s ranking among thirty countries with highest per capita consumption of alcohol according to W.H.O rankings. Such ranking however, fail to account for the unrecorded production and consumption of alcohol, particularly local brews like the ubiquitous herbal gin. Recent reports do not indicate a decline in consumption but rather revealed that Nigeria consumed about 10.57 litres per head of the population. This corroborates earlier findings that heavy episodic and daily drinking, rather than moderate drinking is common among users of alcohol in Nigeria and that alcohol is the most commonly used drug among Nigerians.

Consequences of splurging on herbal gin

The consequences of excessive consumption of herbal gin can hardly be denied. They cut across social, health, economic, psychological and many other consequences. The consequences attributable to excessive consumption account for large costs to families and the society and they are not limited to health-care costs, but also costs related to social harm.

Locally brewed herbal gin like ogogoro, beer and other alcoholic beverages have been linked to increase in violence in local communities and this is almost a daily occurrence in most Nigerian homes and higher institutions. Often times, there is a strong relation between economic wealth and alcohol consumption: the higher the gross domestic product, the higher the overall volume of consumption and the lower the proportions of abstainers. Though moderate alcohol consumption may enhance the control of coronary heart disease, misuse has been linked to heart disease, especially as the user grows older. It also causes liver disease for which there is no effective treatment in Nigeria. There is the option of transplantation, but only a few can afford the cost in Nigeria.

There is also a serious problem of how to determine moderate consumption in a country where there is no definition of a standard drink, no inclusion of alcohol by volume on most labels and where alcoholic beverages are served in different sizes of bottles, cans, glasses and calabashes.

Harmful alcohol use by pregnant women affects the unborn child leading to foetal alcohol syndrome. It leads to malformation of the brain in the unborn resulting in birth defects. The fact that women are beginning to drink even more than men now in Nigeria means that the country may continue to witness birth defects.

Another major consequence of the changing patterns of alcohol consumption is road traffic accidents due to drunk-driving. This has continued to claim lives yearly in Nigeria and may continue because drivers are advised to drink responsibly by the brewers rather than abstain. Nigeria presently ranks third out of the 10 countries with the highest number of deaths related to road accidents and the problem may continue due to lack of policy to check alcohol availability, use and misuse. The sale of herbal gin like ogogoro is not regulated and the brewers are increasingly embarking on aggressive marketing of their products, advertising mostly in local soft-sell magazines. This hinders the anticipated benefits from the campaign for moderate consumption among drivers for instance, while the alcoholic beverages flood the neighbourhood and commercial motor parks.

Stitch in time…

The situation no doubt demands government’s radical intervention to stem the tide of excessive consumption of herbal gin by adults, young adults and even high school teenagers.

Conscious efforts must be made by the mass media, medical doctors and other health care agencies to enlighten the public more on the toxicogenic, carcinogenic and socioeconomic implications of the excessive consumption of herbal gin, according to Idris Age, a doctor and ‘rural healthcare giver.’

Dr. Isanbor, on another note, suggested that: “There should be stricter regulation of these products. They shouldn’t be allowed for sale if their claims can’t be substantiated. The public should be wary of consuming these products excessively as there are no set limits for their consumption.”

Until then, herbal gin lovers like Jude Afunso will continue to bask in the bittersweet intoxication of his favourite beverages. For Afunso, alcohol is a very necessary article, it invigorates him for the hard physical tasks of his daily job; it also enables him to do things at midnight that no rational person would do at 11 in the morning. For instance, while returning from a drinking binge on a Friday night, about two buildings away from his Agege, Lagos apartment, Afunso saw an empty cab with the key in the ignition. Promptly, he jumped behind the wheels of the cab and drove off. The driver of the cab who was peeing in a gutter behind the cab immediately gave chase and with the assistance of a police patrol team, he was able to reclaim his cab from Afunso. The latter had to be accompanied by the police to his house the following morning to confirm his identity with neighbours as well as his claim that he committed the joy ride under the influence of alcohol. Afunso’s act could have resulted in a ghastly accident claiming multiple lives as he was heavily drunk and according to the cab owner, very much disoriented behind the wheels at the time of his arrest. Two empty bottles of a particular herbal gin and an unopened bottle of another were found in his pockets at the time of his arrest. Afunso reeked of alcoholic beverages and seemed visibly disoriented but he claimed that he was perfectly okay. The same can hardly be said for Awoyale and a host of die-hard herbal gin lovers.